Dramatic Assassination Plots from History and Their Outcomes

1. Assassination Leads to the Deaths of Millions

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand led to a war in which over 70 million men were mobilized, and 10 million were killed. Four empires vanished, and the global center of power shifted from the Old World to the New. An age of aristocracy and traditional forms of government came to an end, and a fervent and fast-paced era of democracies, juxtaposed with radical ideologies and totalitarianism, took its place.

Serbia suffered greatly for its sponsorship of terrorism. It stood off an initial Austrian attack, but was overrun in 1915. A fifth of Serbia’s population perished during the war – the highest percentage suffered during the conflict. Serbia’s government finally had enough of the Black Hand, which had grown too powerful and too meddlesome. In 1917, its leaders were arrested and tried on trumped-up charges for conspiracy to murder the Prince Regent. They were convicted, sentenced to death, and executed, and the group was outlawed.

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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading

Ancient History Encyclopedia – Philip II of Macedon

Casius Dio – Roman History, Book LXVIII

Cracked – 5 Amazing Things People Managed Right After Being Left for Dead

Encyclopedia Britannica – 9 Infamous Assassins and the World Leaders they Dispatched

Encyclopedia Britannica – Johan de Witt, Dutch Statesman

History Collection – Secret Societies and the Occult Were More Prevalent During World War I

Gonick, Larry – Cartoon History of the Universe: From the Big Bang to Alexander the Great (1990)

Hastings, Max – Catastrophe, 1914: Europe Goes to War (2014)

History Net – The Assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem

Holland, Tom – Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic (2003)